Sons of Anarchy actor Charlie Hunnam is reportedly being considered for a sequel to the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie. Hunnam could take the role of Johnny Cage, who was not in the latest movie based on the video game franchise. Johnny Cage is depicted as an action movie star with a martial arts background, inspired by Jean-Claude Van Damme. Linden Ashby played the role in the 1995 Mortal Kombat and Chris Conrad played Cage in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
Warner Bros. is “eying” Hunnam for the role, according to industry insider Daniel Richtman (via our sister site, ComicBook.com). Richtman did not provide any further detail though, so it is not clear if Warner Bros. is set on casting Hunnam in the part or if the studio is looking for an actor similar to The Gentlemen star. Hunnam definitely could take the part thanks to his extensive background in physically demanding roles. Aside from Sons of Anarchy, Hunnam has starred in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, The Lost City of Z, Pacific Rim, Papillon, and Jungleland.
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Hunnam is now working on Shantaram, an ambitious Paramount Television Studios/Anonymous Content TV series in development for Apple TV+. It is based on Gregory David Roberts’ book about a man running from an Australian prison and landing in India, where he finds a new life in the Mumbai underworld. Shooting was supposed to start in early 2020, with Justin Kurzel as showrunner, but it was postponed when a new showrunner was brought in and the scripts were incomplete. At that point, they hoped to film on location in India, but Variety recently reported that production was moved to Thailand. Filming will start in July.
Mortal Kombat was released in theaters and HBO Max in April and has grossed over $81 million worldwide. The film earned mixed reviews from critics, but it has been a big enough hit for Warner Bros. to seriously consider a sequel. During a press event in March, producer Todd Garner explained that one of the reasons he held Johnny Cage back was because he was uncomfortable featuring a white male lead in the first movie when Mortal Kombat has a “very Asian feel to it.”
“I early on felt uncomfortable having a white male lead kind of lead that charge in the first movie,” Garner explained. “It just felt Hollywoodish to me, which is weird because he’s an actor, which also is weird. And probably my bias of… it just feels weird if I’m trying to do, and I was, do something different and diverse and true. Is it a cop-out to all of a sudden have Ryan Reynolds, not him, but… As the lead felt a little disingenuous to me and super easy to bring him in, in a big bombastic fun way in the second. And he deserves that as a character. And I love these characters, so we thought hard about it.”
